Bangladesh is one of several South Asian countries that continue to criminalize LGBTQ people using an archaic British colonial-era law known as Section 377. Despite the presence of several LGBTQ rights organizations in the country, sexual and gender minorities in the country face severe social and economic challenges as well as violence, discrimination and even murder.

“Muhammad is a narcissist, a pedophile, a mass murderer, a terrorist, a misogynist, a lecher, a cult leader, a madman, a rapist, a torturer, an assassin and a looter.”

Former Muslim Ali Sina offered $50,000 to anyone who could prove this wrong based on Islamic texts.

The reward has gone unclaimed……

Introduction:

What if a man you knew began telling people that God was routinely speaking to him and only him – and that the “revelations” he claimed to be receiving were mostly about him and his relative importance to all other people? Say, for example, that this self-proclaimed prophet insisted that God had declared him to be the ‘excellent pattern of conduct’ for mankind (Quran 33:21) and that others were therefore to accord him with special privilege, unwavering obedience (Quran 4:80) , wealth and earthly desires, including all of the slaves and women than his lust could handle.
Such figures still arise from time to time. Some of the more dynamic manage to develop a small group of followers so taken with their leader’s self assurance that they willingly offer their own children to him for “marriage” and are prepared to kill on his behalf.
Would it really validate the message of any such cult leader if his followers did successfully kill and seize the property of anyone who dared disagree? What if they gradually expanded their power and numbers in such fashion that eventually they were recognized as a major world religion? Would that make the cult leader’s claims about himself true? Would it really change the fact that what they believe ultimately sprang from the imagination of a narcissist?

In 610, an Arab salesman with a charismatic personality attracted a small cult of credulous fanatics by claiming to be a prophet. Though his “revelations” were self-referential and occasionally contradicting, he was successful in manipulating his followers with promises of heavenly reward and threat of divine wrath. The god heard only by him told them to lie and steal for him, to give their children to him for sexual pleasure and, eventually, to gruesomely murder his detractors…

There are two ways to approach a study of Muhammad. One is with reverence. The other is with skepticism. Thinking persons choose the latter. They are not influenced by the number of Muslim believers in the world today or by their force of belief, because these are meaningless for determining truth. They care only about fact.

The facts presented here about the life of Muhammad and the origins of Islam are fully supported by the works of early Muslim biographers upon which all later scholars rely.

Origins:

To understand Islam, you must understand the harsh circumstances into which it was born. The Arabian Peninsula at the time of Muhammad (b.570 AD) was a barren and desolate region with scorching sun and oppressive heat by day, and chilling cold at night. There was little vegetative growth, and the nomadic inhabitants lived between jagged rocks and shifting sand dunes.

While Europe and much of the Middle East was transitioning from the Roman to the Byzantine Empire, with roads, irrigation canals, aqueducts, and a culture that included philosophical discourse and theater, the Arabians lived short and brutal lives in warring tribes with little to offer beyond their harsh existence.
This partly explains Islam’s inherent hostility to music and art, which some extremists, such as the Taliban, take quite literally. Islam does not encourage the pursuit of knowledge outside of itself. It is, as Oriana Fallaci puts it, “the religion which has produced nothing but religion.”
The inhospitable climate protected the peninsula from conquest and cultural influence. No foreign army felt that sheep and goats were worth taking from desert fighters, so the area was relatively isolated, with the exception of certain trading routes. The renaissance of knowledge that the rest of the world had been experiencing since the Greek revival was largely missed out on by the Arabs, whose energy was devoted to daily survival against the ruthless environment and other tribes.
For these people, morality was dictated merely by necessity, and obligations did not extend beyond one’s tribe. This is a critical basis for the development of the Islamic attitude toward those outside the faith, including the moral principle that the ethics of any act are determined only by whether or not it benefits Muslims.
There were pagan religious traditions in Arabia, particularly among those based in the trading centers such as Muhammad’s birthplace of Mecca. Some of these towns had kaabas – cube-like structures that would attract pilgrims during holy months. The kaaba at Mecca housed various idols, including the black meteorite that remains to this day.
In addition to the black rock, Muhammad’s Quraish tribe worshipped a moon god called Allah. Other gods were recognized as well. In fact, the town of Mecca was renowned for religious tolerance, where people of all faiths could come and pray at the Kaaba. (This would later change once Muhammad gained the power to establish his authority by force).
Islam was created both from these crude pagan practices and from the basic theological elements of Christianity and Judaism as Muhammad [often erroneously] understood them (his inaccurate interpretation of Christianity, for example, is often attributed to an early experience with fringe cults in the Palestinian region, then known as Syria).

Early Life at Mecca:

Muhammad was born around 570 AD to a widowed mother who died just six years later. He grew up poor and orphaned on the margins of society, which was controlled by tribal chiefs and trading merchants. He worked for his uncle, Abu Talib, as a camel herder. Although his uncle had some standing in the community, Muhammad himself did not rise above his lowly station until he was 25, when he met and married a wealthy widow, Khadija, who was 15 years older.
His wife’s trading business not only nurtured Muhammad’s natural talents of persuasion, but it also gave the successful salesman an opportunity to travel and acquire knowledge that was not as accessible to the local population. He would later use this to his advantage by incorporating the stories that he had come across into his “revelations” from Allah, particularly the tales from the earlier religions, Judaism and Christianity.
Having attained a comfortable lifestyle and the idle time that wealth affords, Muhammad would wander off occasionally for periods of meditation and contemplation. At the age of 40, it is quite likely that he was experiencing the symptoms of a midlife crisis, including a desire for personal accomplishment and meaning.
One day, he told his wife that he had been visited by the angel Gabriel in a dream. Thus began a series of “revelations” which lasted almost until his death 23 years later. The Quran is a collection of words that Muhammad attributed to Allah. The Hadith is a collection of narrations of the life and deeds of Muhammad. The Sira is his recorded biography. The Sunnah is said to be Muhammad’s way of life, on which Islamic law (Sharia) is based.
With his wife’s influence and support, Muhammad proclaimed himself a prophet in the same lineage as Abraham and Jesus, and began trying to convert those around him to his new religion. He narrated the Quran to those who believed him, telling them that it was the word of Allah (heard only by himself, of course).
Muhammad’s Quran does not contain a single original moral value. It contributes only one new idea to world religion: Muhammad is Allah’s prophet. In fact, Muhammad’s “Allah” seemed oddly preoccupied with making sure Muslims knew to obey Muhammad’s every earthly wish, as this mandate is repeated at least twenty times in each copy of the Quran.
In the beginning, Muhammad did his best to compromise his teachings with the predominant beliefs of the community’s elders, such as combining all 300 of their idols under the name “Allah.” His amalgamation of Judeo-Christian theology and pagan tradition grew more sophisticated over time. The “revelations from Allah” affirmed his own position repetitively. Even if he did not remember the Biblical stories correctly, for example, each was conspicuously modified to incorporate a common theme: “Believe in the Messenger (Muhammad) or suffer the consequences.”

Preaching and Persecution at Mecca:

According to early Muslim historians, the Meccans did not mind Muhammad practicing his religion, nor did they feel threatened by his promotion of it. This changed only after the self-proclaimed prophet began attacking their religion, including the customs and ancestors of the people (Ibn Ishaq/Hisham 167). This was enough to stir up the resentment of the influential leaders of Mecca, who then mocked his humble background against his pretentious claims. Still, Mecca at the time was a remarkably tolerant society. Muhammad was allowed to attack the local customs for thirteen years, even though the town’s economy depended on the annual pilgrimage attended by visiting pagans, whose religion he actively disparaged.
At first, Muhammad was only successful with friends and family. After thirteen years, the street preacher could boast of only about a hundred determined followers, who called themselves Muslims. Outside of his wife, his first convert was his young cousin Ali (who would later become his son-in-law and the fourth caliph of Islam). Another early convert was Abu Bakr, a wealthy merchant whose money and credulous acceptance of Muhammad can be credited with the survival of the fledgling cult. (Muhammad would later “marry” Abu Bakr’s 6-year-old daughter).
Relations with the Meccans turned particularly sour after an episode known as “the Satanic Verses” in which Muhammad agreed to recognize the local gods in addition to Allah. This delighted the Meccans, who generously extended their welcome. But Muhammad soon changed his mind after his own people began to lose faith in him. He claimed that Satan had spoken through him, and he rescinded recognition of the Meccan gods (Tabari 1192, Quran 22:52 & 53:19-26).
The locals intensified their mockery of Muslims and made life particularly difficult for some of them. Although Muslims today often use the word “persecution” to describe this ordeal (justifiably, in some cases), it is important to note that the earliest and most reliable biographers (Ibn Ishaq and al-Tabari) record the death of only one Muslim during this period, an older woman who died from stress.
This fact is a source of embarrassment to modern apologists, who do not like to admit that Muslims were the first to become violent at Mecca and that Muhammad was the first to resort to militancy… and at a later time, when it was entirely unnecessary.
To deal with this unpleasant truth, sympathetic narratives of the early Meccan years usually exaggerate the struggle of Muslims, with claims that they were “under constant torture.” They may also include apocryphal accounts that are NOT supported by earliest and most reliable historians.
Modern storytellers and filmmakers (such as those behind 1976’s The Message) have even been known to invent fictional victims of Meccan murder, either to dramatize their own tale or to provide justification for the “revenge killings” that followed. In fact, the only Muslim whose life was truly in danger was that of Muhammad – after 13 years of being allowed to mock the local religion.

The Hijra: Flight from Mecca to Medina:

The death of his uncle, Abu Talib, in 619 left Muhammad without a protector against the Meccan leadership, which was gradually losing patience with him. The true agitator in this situation is quite clearly Muhammad himself, as even Muslim historians note. Consider this account of what happened at Abu Talib’s deathbed as the Meccans implored him a final time for peace with his nephew:
[Muhammad’s chief adversary] Abu Sufyan, with other sundry notables, went to Abu Talib and said: “You know the trouble that exists between us and your nephew, so call him and let us make an agreement that he will leave us alone and we will leave him alone; let him have his religion and we will have ours.” (Ibn Ishaq 278)
Muhammad rejected the offer of peaceful co-existence. His new religion was intended to dominate others, not be on equal standing with them. Meanwhile, the Muslims were beginning to become violent with the people around them.
Muhammad’s search for political alliance led him to make a treaty of war against the Meccans with the people of Medina, another Arab town far to the north (Ibn Ishaq 299-301). This was the last straw for the Meccans, who finally decided to capture Muhammad and put him to death.
Although this sounds harsh against Western standards, it is important to note the contrast between the Meccan reaction and that of Muhammad when he later dealt with perceived treachery in Medina on the part of those who hadn’t harmed anyone:
The Meccans limited their deadly aggression to Muhammad himself. This is quite clear from the episode in which Muhammad escapes his home by using his son-in-law, Ali, to trick his would-be assassins into thinking that they had him trapped (Ibn Ishaq 326). No harm was done to Ali or his wife, both of whom subsequently remained in the city for several days to complete the transfer of Muhammad’s family business to Medina.
Compare this to the episode of the Banu Qurayza, in which Muhammad slaughtered an entire tribe of people based on their leader having switched loyalties in a conflict in which none of them even participated.
The year that Muhammad fled Mecca for Medina was 622, which marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar.Medina and the Genesis of Jihad:

Stinging from the rejection of his own town and tribe, Muhammad’s message become more intolerant and ruthless – particularly as he gained power. Islam’s holiest book reflects this shift. Later parts of the Quran add violence and earthly defeat at the hands of Muslims to the woes of eternal damnation that earlier parts of the book promised those who would not believe in Muhammad as a prophet.
At Medina the relatively peaceful religion, which borrowed heavily from Judaism and Christianity, was supplanted by the militant and totalitarian form of political Islam that is now called Islamism. During these last ten years of Muhammad’s life, infidels were evicted or enslaved, converted upon point of death and even rounded up and slaughtered as expediency allowed.
To fund his quest for control, Muhammad first directed his followers to raid Meccan caravans in the holy months, when the victims would least expect it. This despite the fact that the Meccans were not bothering him in Medina.
Muhammad provided his people with convenient “revelations from Allah” which allowed them to murder innocent drivers and steal their property (Ibn Ishaq/Hisham 426). The people around him gradually developed a lust for things that could be taken in battle, including material comforts and captured women and children.
Often the people captured in battle would be brought before the self-proclaimed prophet, where they would plead for their lives, arguing, for example, that they would never have treated Muslims that way. The traditions portray Muhammad as mostly unmoved by their pleas: ordering their deaths anyway, often by horrible means. In one case, he orders a man slain, telling him that “Hell” will take care of the poor fellow’s orphaned daughter (Ishaq 459).
The raids on caravans preceded the first major battle involving a Muslim army, the Battle of Badr. This was the spot where the Meccans had sent their own army to protect their caravans from a Muslim raid. Although today’s apologists like to claim that Muslims only attack others in self-defense, this was clearly not the case in Muhammad’s time. In fact, he had to compel his reluctant warriors with promises of paradise and assurances that their religion was more important than the lives of others.

The Consolidation of Power:

Muhammad’s defeat of the Meccans at Badr emboldened him to begin dividing and conquering the three local Jewish tribes at Medina. Their mistake was to accept the Muslim presence but reject Muhammad’s claim that he was in the line of Jewish prophets. His stories from the Torah simply did not agree with their own. (Muhammad’s recited version of Bible stories sounds more like fragmented fairy tales with the same moral – believe in his personal claim to be a prophet… or suffer a fate).
How these three tribes, the Banu Qaynuqa, the Banu Nadir, and the Banu Quyrayza met their fate is insightful into the Islamic mindset, which employs an inherent double standard in its relations with those outside the faith.
First, to try and gain their favor, Muhammad briefly preached that Christians and Jews could attain salvation through their own faith. In fact, he changed his followers’ direction for prayer from Mecca to Jerusalem, which garnered his hosts’ tolerance for at a critical time, even as he worked surreptitiously for the power to steal and evict. These earlier concessions and teachings were later revoked by Muhammad, since the Jews ultimately refused his religion. The rare early verses of tolerance in the Quran are abrogated by later verses such as 9:29.
Jewish knowledge of the Torah naturally threatened the Muslim leader’s credibility, since it refuted claims that he made about himself as a prophet of God. The Jews also saw through the Biblical narrations that he had picked up from secondhand sources and knew that these contradicted established revelation. Conveniently, Allah stepped in to tell Muhammad that the Jews had deliberately corrupted their own texts to hide the very evidence of his own prophethood which he insisted were there. (To this day, Muslims have never been able to produce a copy of the “true” Torah or Gospel to which their own Quran refers).
While the Jews remained unconvinced by such gimmickry, Arab polytheists converted to Islam in numbers, which soon gave Muhammad the power to make his intentions clear that Islam would be imposed by force:
While we were in the Mosque, the Prophet came out and said, “Let us go to the Jews” We went out till we reached Bait-ul-Midras. He said to them, “If you embrace Islam, you will be safe. You should know that the earth belongs to Allah and His Apostle, and I want to expel you from this land. So, if anyone amongst you owns some property, he is permitted to sell it, otherwise you should know that the Earth belongs to Allah and His Apostle.” Bukhari 53:392
The Jews of Medina were the first in a very long line of unfortunate people to be offered the opportunity to convert to Islam under obvious duress. Forcible conversion is very much a Muslim tradition started by Muhammad.
Since they chose to hold on to their religion Muhammad looked for reasons to go to war against the Jews at Medina. According to some, the Qaynuqa were driven from their homes and land on the pretext that one of their own had harassed a Muslim woman. Although the offender was killed prior to this by a Muslim, the Muslim was also killed by Qaynuza in retaliation for the first murder.
After laying siege to the entire community and defeating the tribe, Muhammad wanted to put every male member to death but was talked out of it by an associate – something that Allah later “rebuked” him for. The Qaynuqa were forced into exile and the Muslims took their possessions and property, making it their own. Muhammad personally reserved a fifth of the ill-gotten gain for himself (a rule that also made it into the Quran).
This episode instilled within Islam the immature principle of group identity, whereby any member of a religion or social unit outside of Islam is just as guilty as any peers who insult or harm a Muslim – and just as deserving of punishment. (Muhammad’s punishments usually did not fit the crime).
Members of the second tribe, the Banu Nadir, were accused by Muhammad of plotting to kill him. What is intriguing about this episode is that it occurred after the Muslims had killed several prominent Jews on Muhammad’s order, including a leader of the Banu Nadir (named Ka’b al-Ashraf).
The prophet of Islam claimed that an angel appeared to him in a dream and told him that he would be targeted in retaliation. Based on this, he laid siege to the Banu Nadir community. After forcing them to surrender, these original inhabitants of Medina were then banished from their homes and land by their former guests. To the disappointment of everyone else, Muhammad also produced a revelation from Allah that allowed him to confiscate the entire portion of Qaynuqa good for himself – Ibn Ishaq 653).
In a critical example of how deception is sanctioned under Islam, a surviving contingent of the Banu Nadir (under Usayr ibn Zarim) was later tricked into leaving their fortress by promise of peace talks. The contingent of Muslims sent by Muhammad to “escort” them easily slaughtered the victims once they became vulnerable by their trust (Ibn Ishaq 981).

The Qurayza Massacre:

By the time the Banu Qurayza met their fate, Muhammad was wealthy and powerful from his defeat of the other two tribes.
The Jews of the Banu Qurayza tasted Muhammad’s wrath after their leader half-heartedly sided with the Meccan army during a siege of Medina (the Battle of the Trench). By then, Muhammad had evicted the other Jews and declared that all land at Medina belonged to him, so the original constitution of the town was no longer in effect. It is important to note that the Qurayza did not attack the Muslims, even after switching loyalties (contrary to another popular myth).
Although the Qurayza surrendered peacefully to the Muslims, Muhammad determined to have every man of the tribe executed, along with every boy that had reached the initial stages of puberty (between the ages of 12 and 14). He ordered a ditch dug outside of the town and had the victims brought to him in several groups. Each person would be forced to kneel, and their head would be cut off and then dumped along with the body into the trench.
Between 700 and 900 men and boys were slaughtered by the Muslims after their surrender.
The surviving children of the men became slaves of the Muslims, and their widows became sex slaves. This included the Jewish girl, Rayhana, who became one of Muhammad’s personal concubines the very night that her husband was killed. The prophet of Islam apparently “enjoyed her pleasures” (ie. raped her) even as the very execution of her people was taking place.
In some ways, women were much like any other possession taken in battle, to be done with however their captors pleased. But Muslims found them useful in other ways as well. In fact, one of the methods by which Islam owed its expansion down through the centuries was through the reproductive capabilities of captured women. In addition to four wives, a man was allowed an unlimited number of sex slaves, with the only rule being that any resulting children would automatically be Muslim.
Muhammad ordered that a fifth of the women taken captive be reserved for him. Many were absorbed into his personal stable of sex slaves that he maintained in addition to his eleven wives. Others were doled out like party favors to others.
At one point following a battle, Muhammad provided instructions on how women should be raped after capture, telling his men not to worry about coitus interruptus, since “Allah has written whom he is going to create.”
Following the battle against the Hunain, late in his life, Muhammad’s men were reluctant to rape the captured women in front of their husbands (who were apparently still alive to witness the abomination), but Allah came to the rescue with a handy “revelation” that allowed the debauchery. (This is the origin of Sura 4:24 according to Abu Dawud 2150).

The Origin of Islamic Imperialism:

From Medina, Muhammad waged a campaign of terror, to which he openly attributed his success (Bukhari 52:220). His gang of robbers launched raids in which hapless communities were savaged, looted, murdered and raped. The tribes around the Muslims began to convert to Islam out of self-preservation.
The excuse for military campaign began to shrink to the point that it hardly existed at all. Muhammad told his followers that Muslims were meant to rule over other people. Supremacist teachings became the driving force behind Jihad and Jihad became the driving force behind Islam.
The brutal conquest of the people of Khaybar, a peaceful farming community that was not at war with the Muslims, is a striking example. Muhammad marched in secret, took them by surprise and easily defeated them. He had many of the men killed, simply for defending their town. He enslaved women and children and had surviving men live on the land as virtual serfs, paying Muslims an ongoing share of their crops not to attack them again.
Muhammad suspected that the town’s treasurer was holding out and had his men barbarically torture the poor fellow by building a fire on his chest until he revealed the location of hidden treasure.
Afterwards, the prophet of Islam beheaded the man and “married” his widow on the same day (she first had to pass through the hands of one of his lieutenants). Given that the woman’s father was also killed by Muhammad, it isn’t much of a stretch to say that true love had very little to do with this “marriage.”

A Life of Hedonism and Narcissism:

Muhammad’s personal life became the picture of hedonism and excess, all justified by frequent “revelations” from an increasingly arbitrary and capricious god. Much like a cult leader, he demanded strict obedience from his followers, telling them that they obey Allah by obeying him (Quran 4:80, 59:7; Sahih Bukhari 89:251).
Muhammad employed circular reasoning in which the premise and conclusion each depend on the other: A is true because B is true; B is true because A is true. Surprisingly, this simple and obvious defect in thinking persists to this day among believers:
1) Muhammad is the messenger of Allah because the Quran says so.
2) The Quran is from Allah because the messenger says so.
In his later years, Muhammad shamelessly exploited his influence for personal goals, including sex, wealth and power. Allah’s authority for him to pursue these earthly ambitions is actually immortalized in the Quran (suras 33 and 66, particularly).
The same man who earlier in his career had justified his claims as a prophet by saying that he “asked for no reward” from others, reversed course and began to demand a fifth or more of all booty taken from conquered tribes. According to his biographers, he became fat from living off this enormous share of ill-gotten gain.
In the span of a dozen years, he married eleven women and had access to an array of sex slaves.When he wanted a woman, even if she were the wife of another man, his own daughter-in-law, or a child as young as 6-years-old, Muhammad was able to justify his lust and inevitable consummation with an appeal to Allah’s revealed will for his sex life – which was then preserved forever in the Quran, to be faithfully memorized by future generations for whom it has no possible relevance.
The first verse of Sura 66 is a good example of this. It was narrated by Muhammad to his wives shortly after two of them pressured him into not visiting a favorite sex slave:
O Prophet! why do you forbid (yourself) that which Allah has made lawful for you, seeking to please your wives? (Quran 66:1)

Allah (according to Muhammad) was so upset with his prophet for denying himself an afternoon of pleasure with the concubine that Allah had provided for him that it was a good thing for Muhammad that Allah was a forgiving and merciful god! (For the Muslim faithful, it must surely be a source of embarrassment that Allah evidently had more interest in Muhammad’s personal sex life than he did about tolerance or universal love. The god of Islam encourages sex with slaves in several other places as well).

Muhammad used eternal paradise and damnation to solicit strict obedience to his every command: “Allah’s Apostle said, ‘Whoever obeys me will enter Paradise, and whoever disobeys me will not enter it’” (Bukhari 92.384).
Islam became centered completely around its founder. Of all the prophets, new converts are required to affirm only the legitimacy of Muhammad. The Muslim leader even shares the Shahada with Allah (“There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger”). To this day, every Muslim must bow down five times a day “toward” Muhammad’s birthplace (Islam’s “prophet” did not know the earth was round).
The prophet of Islam was also an extremely superstitious person, leaving many bizarre rules for Muslims to follow, including which direction they should defecate and how many stones they should wash their anus with afterwards (any odd number… for anyone who’s curious).Sketchy hygiene apparently left him with an annoying lice infection.
Not content with waiting for Allah to act on his behalf, Muhammad had personal critics executed, including poets. One of these was a mother of five children, who was stabbed to death by Muhammad’s envoy after a suckling infant was removed from her breast.Other innocent people were killed merely because they were of a different religion, sometimes including children.
The glaring double standards of Islam were ingrained by the prophet of Islam during his lifetime. This included commands to execute apostates (those who wish to leave Islam) and evict people of other religions from their homes.
An elderly woman named Umm Qirfa once ran afoul of Muhammad merely by fighting back when her tribe was targeted by Muslim raiders. Muhammad’s adopted son tied the woman’s legs separately to two camels, then set the camels off in opposite directions, tearing the woman’s body in two. He also killed her two sons – presumably in gruesome fashion – and made her daughter into a sex slave.
Today’s Muslims inherit this legacy of self-consumption and disregard for those outside the faith. They may or may not agree with terrorist attacks on non-Muslims, but they are nearly united in their belief that the victims have no right to strike back, even if it is in self-defense.
The Quran distinguishes Muslims from others, bestowing the highest praise for believers while heaping the vilest condemnation on those outside the faith. Islam is a true supremacist ideology.

The Taking of Mecca:

Though many of the Arab and Jewish tribes were eliminated and absorbed through military victory and forced conversion, the city of Mecca remained.
In 628, six years after fleeing, Muhammad’s followers were allowed to re-enter the city under an agreement whereby he set aside his title as “Prophet of Allah.” This was a temporary ploy that enabled him to gain a political foothold in the city through the same “fifth column” activities that are still used today by organizations such as the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), which use their host’s language of religious tolerance to disguise an ulterior agenda that includes systematic discrimination against non-Muslims.
Many of his followers were disappointed that Muhammad had made concessions to the Meccans, not understanding how it actually fit perfectly with his ultimate agenda of domination. It was during this time that he led the campaign against the Khaybar, to assuage their lust for blood, women and loot.
Technically, Muhammad was the first to break the treaty with the Meccans when he violated the portion of it that restricted him from accepting members of the other tribe into his camp. His own people also staged deadly raids on Meccan caravans, Although he evidently had no personal obligation to the treaty, the prophet of Islam held the other party to the letter of the law, particularly after he amassed the power to conquer in overwhelming fashion.
The excuse that Muhammad eventually used to march his armies into Mecca was provided when a tribe allied to the Meccans conducted a raid on a tribe allied with the Medinans. Although a true man of peace would have heeded the fact that his enemy did not want war, and used non-violent means to resolve the tension while respecting sovereignty, Muhammad merely wanted power and vengeance.

In just under a decade, Muhammad had evolved from trying to sell himself as a Judeo-Christian prophet, seeking followers, to an Arab warlord, seeking subjects, slaves and total dominance. The early Quran (of Mecca) tells unbelievers to ‘follow the example’ of Muhammad or suffer Hell. The later Quran (of Medina) tells unbelievers to ‘obey’ Muhammad or suffer death.

Following Mecca’s surrender, Muhammad put to death those who had previously insulted him.One of the persons sentenced was his former scribe, who had written revelations that Muhammad said were from Allah. The scribe had previously recommended changes to the wording that Muhammad offered (based on some of the bad grammar and ineloquent language of “Allah”) and Muhammad agreed. This caused the scribe to apostatize, based on his belief that real revelations should have been immutable.
Although the scribe escaped death by “converting to Islam” at the point of a sword, others weren’t so lucky. One was a slave girl who was executed on Muhammad’s order because she had written songs mocking him.
In what would also become the model for future Muslim military conquests, those Meccans who would not convert to Islam were required to accept third-class status. Not surprisingly, almost the entire city – which had previously rejected his message – immediately “converted” to Islam once Muhammad came back with a sword in this hand. This included his adversary, Abu Sufyan, who was bluntly ordered to “Submit and testify that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is the apostle of Allah before you lose your head.”
Those who would not convert to Islam were banned from the city a few months later – again underscoring the dual ethics of Islam. When Muhammad was previously banned from Mecca, he described it as a “persecution” that justified his “slaughter” of those who prevented him from performing the Haj. Yet, when he attained power, he immediately chased anyone who would not convert to Islam from Mecca and prevented them from performing the Haj (see MYTH: Islam Made Mecca More Tolerant)
To this day, people of other religions are barred even from entering Mecca, the city where Muhammad was free to preach in contradiction to the established religion. Islam is far less tolerant even than the more primitive Arab religion that it supplanted. A person preaching the original Arab polytheism on the streets of Mecca today would be quickly executed.Jihad and Jizya:

Tellingly, some of the most violent verses in the Quran were handed down following Muhammad’s ascension to power, when there was no real threat to the Muslim people. The 9th Sura of the Quran exhorts Muslims to Jihad and dominance over other religions:
“Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.” (9:29)
The verse that follows curses Christians and Jews by name and says “May Allah destroy them” (as with other sections of the Quran, it is unclear whether it is Allah or Muhammad speaking).
Before his death, Muhammad ordered 30,000 men to march on Christian lands (which were Byzantine at the time). It is possible that he believed false rumors of an army amassed against him, but there is absolutely no evidence of such a force having been assembled. Instead, Muhammad subjugated the local people and extorted “protection” money from them – something that has come to be known as the jizya (a tax that non-Muslims pay to Muslims).
Another episode from this period that offers insight into the legacy of Muhammad is the forced conversion of the al-Harith, one of the last Arab tribes to hold out against Muslim hegemony. Muhammad gave the chief of the tribe three days to accept Islam before sending his army to destroy them. Not surprisingly, the entire people immediately embraced the Religion of Peace!
Most Arab tribes recognized Muhammad’s quest for power and wisely pledged their political allegiance without a fight. This quickly presented a problem for his core band of followers, however, since they had become used to living off of what could be stolen from others via raids and battle.
Since it was against the rules to attack fellow Muslims, Muhammad began demanding tribute from his new “converts” instead, but this proved to be less profitable than the jizya – not to mention that it carried the risk of internal resentment and strife..
Khaybar, the remote Jewish city that had been turned into a sharecropper state on behalf of its Muslim masters was a more preferable economic model for a growing Islamic empire that had become dependent on extortion justified by religious superiority.
Years before attacking Christian and Persian lands, Muhammad wrote to governors in each, telling them, “embrace Islam and you will be safe.” There was no mention of oppression or liberation cited as a justification. The only threat these people faced would be from Muslim armies. (Only six years later, 4,000 peasants in the modern-day Palestinian region would be slaughtered for defending their homes).
At the time, the wealth of other nations was an open source of envy among Muhammad’s followers, which he promised to rectify. The subsequent military expansion that he set in motion may have been sanctioned by Allah and powered by religious zealotry, but the underlying motives of money, sex, slaves and power were no less worldly than any other conqueror of the time.The Legacy of Islamic Imperialism:

Muhammad died of a fever in 632 at the age of 63, with his violent religion spread over most of Arabia. His method of forcing others to convert under duress had several negative consequences, beginning with the civil wars that were immediately engaged in following his death. Many tribes wanted out of Islam and had to be kept in the empire via horrific violence.
Abu Sufyan, the Meccan leader who was literally forced to “embrace” Islam at the point of a sword actually had the last laugh. He skillfully worked his own family into the line of succession and his son, Muawiya, became the heir to Muhammad’s empire at the expense of the prophet’s own family. In fact, Abu Sufyan almost lived to witness his son and grandson kill off Muhammad’s own grandchildren and assume control of the Islamic empire.
Muhammad’s failure to leave a clear successor resulted in a deep schism that quickly devolved into violence and persists to this day as the Sunni/Shia conflict. His own family fell apart and literally went to war with each other in the first few years. Thousands of Muslims were killed fighting each other in a battle between Muhammad’s favorite wife, Aisha, and his adopted son, Ali.
Infidels fared no better. Through Muhammad’s teachings and example, his followers viewed worldly life as a constant physical battle between the House of Peace (Dar al-Salaam) and the House of War (Dar al-Harb). Muslims are instructed to invite their enemies to either embrace Islam, pay jizya (protection money), or die.
Over the next fourteen centuries, the bloody legacy of this extraordinary individual would be a constant challenge to those living on the borders of the Islam’s political power. The violence that Muslim armies would visit on people across North Africa, the Middle East, Europe and into Asia as far as the Indian subcontinent is a tribute to a founder who practiced and promoted subjugation, rape, murder and forced conversion.
In Muhammad’s words: “I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah.’ And if they say so, pray like our prayers, face our Qibla and slaughter as we slaughter, then their blood and property will be sacred to us and we will not interfere with them…” (Bukhari 8:387)
It is certainly the basis not just for modern day terror campaigns against Western infidels (and Hindus and Buddhists) but also the broad apathy that Muslims across the world have to the violence, which is an obvious enabler.
As Indonesian cleric, Abu Bakar Bashir recently put it, “If the West wants to have peace, then they have to accept Islamic rule.”

http://www.sex-in-islam.com/ayesha.ahmed/incest-in-islam.htm )
If he has sex with boys up to the age of 18 years old, it is not classed as a homosexual act. (not considered male until you have pubic/facial hair)
He is permitted to have sex with animals, as long as he is thinking of his wives as he does it.
Infidel women are allowed to be raped, or taken as sex slaves.
Any woman dressed inappropriately is permitted to be raped.
(not muslim women, they can be beaten, jailed or killed)

If he dies a martyr, on reaching heaven, he is entitled to 72 black eyed, black haired virgins. Each virgin has 70 slave handmaidens and he can have sex with the entire 5112 virgins and handmaidens.
And according to a video on u-tube, if you leave your car unattended on the street it’s possible that the tail pipe might be assaulted.

Worship money paid. He uses the word literally worshiped by Hindus. They will give them up images of gods worshiped in front of her program, and the fact that they are paid. Their faith in God’s eternal times, times that of the Hindus seeking, as replica of the multiplication of the name of a god worshiped his statue built in front of him. For example – the power of God’s fold. With the power of the name of Durga,Durga is worshiped an idol set up in front of him homage, and that the power to protect them. Hindus believe that God exists everywhere, so God made the saktirupa Durga idol amongst them. Durga Puja saktirupa their faith in God in this way, they will be protected from various bangle affliction.imani so sometimes they break. And the challenge is – will that god can not save their idols, worshiping him, why?

It’s just, rational and realistic. Now the use of the same argument in Islam.

**Sahih Al-Aswad al-Tirmidhi :: Hazare, Rukn and Maqam Ibrahim merits anuccheda, Chapter 9 :: Hadith 877 ————–
Ibn Abbas (ra) have to conform to, he said, the Prophet (PBUH) said: Be Heaven Hazare Aswad was down more than milk and white situation. If the son of Adam sins, but it was black.

Sahih al-Tirmidhi :: Hajj chapter, Chapter 9 :: Hadith 959

Kutayaba (s.) ….. Umair (s.) Reported that, he said, Ibn Umar (ra.) To push the Hazare-Aswad in both the House and rukane Yarnanite would rukane. One day I balama him, even if you push the crowd rukane two other companions arrived, but I do not see Emon push to go there. He said, if I think it is the fault of this pull- I heard, touched on the two pillars Ease The penalty for the sins heard him say, You can even push the two rukane crowd, but at the other disciple to go there and see if I can not push Emon. He said, if I think it is the fault of this push-push? I am the Messenger of Allah (Heard the two pillars is atonement for the sins him touch Ease

Circumambulate seven times if properly bayatullahra virtues are like a slave. I heard him say, a trot around the uthayana wherewith he does or what he is not a forgive and writing is not a virtue.

This hadith says that when believers sin is slated to touch the rocks. There is also a result of what believer tradition
**Sahih Bukhari Volume 3 :: :: interrupted a pilgrimage to the section in Chapter 8 :: :: Hadith 46
Muhammad ibn Yusuf (s) … Abu Huraira (ra) narrated, he said, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said that the House did not perform Hajj, does not commit immorality and did not disobey God, he just evolved baby from the womb like (Hajj) will return.

If you believe that the newly evolved Hajj is innocent, like a child. Hajj because he kissed or touched the black stone or hajare Aswad, along with the black stone will absorb the sins of all, he made totally innocent. Straight black stone, which means the sins of all believers..
The believers are those who believe in the power of sin, God alone. They also believe that the black stone can sin. Black stone, according to their faith was not God? As soon as the question of oil preference purple, illuminates various agaduma bagaduma start talking.

So it turns out, the believers living stones of this period manobakye respect because they want to be sinless and innocent by touching the stones to be there for Hajj at the time they become so insane that many believe a lot of the pressure of the crowd as cataract. By touch or kiss the black stone hesitates to risk their lives, they do not respect.

So they say that they are the grounds Hindus worship idols, what is the same logic that Muslims do not worship the black stone? Or some kind of argument Hindus, Muslims and the different? Still, I imagine that Hindus form of God or gods in their image of God bidhyamana times, but I never think that Muslims Yet again, the time period between the stones of their God firmly believe stones as a means of sin. That was partly statue pujai where Hindus and Muslims worship the stone is not 100%?

In the Islamic holy month of fasting, sexual intercourse was prohibited. Also the rule said that in the holy one month any kind of sexual activities was sinful.

1. “Ibn Abbas narrates that Hadhrath Umar went before Rasulullah (s) and “Master I am destroyed!’. Rasulullah (s) asked ‘what thing has destroyed you?’. Umar replied last night I had anal sex. Rasulullah (s) did not give a reply to Umar, then Allah (swt) sent down this revelation “Your wives are as a tilth unto you; so approach your tilth when or how ye will; the words ‘kabool wa Dhabar’ (the anus is accepted)”

2. Here is the direct quote from Tafseer Durre Manthur: ‘Traditions wherein Abdullah ibn Umar believed sodomy with women are well known and Sahih.’
3. Some words of wisdom regarding handsome lads:
a. Hazrat Abu Huraira reports that Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said: Do not stare at beardless youth.
b. Hazrat Anas reports that Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said: Beware of beardless youth for they are a greater source of mischief than young maidens.
c. Hazrat Umar used to say: I do not fear the danger of a wild animal let loose upon an aalim, as much as I fear the danger of a beardless, handsome lad upon him.
d. Hazrat Sufyan Thauri says: If every woman has one shaitaan accompanying her, then a handsome lad has two.
e. Imam Ghazzali writes: Turning a hungry lion upon an aabid (worshipper) is not as detrimental to him as a handsome lad left before him.
3. Imam Abu Hanifa’s esteemed student Ibn Mubarak was also a homosexual.
We also read in ‘Muhadarat al-‘udaba’, p. 199, Chapter 1, “Al hada al Saani” that:”Hakim Tabaristan made Abdullah bin Mubarak a Judge, who was addicted to the anus (Homosexual) he asked the Hakim ‘Sir I need some men who can help you” Hakim said I was aware of your need before this”.
The Salaf deem it permissible to pray Salat behind a homosexual Imam
We read in Sahih al Bukhari, p. 96, Kitab Bab ul Salaat, narrates a tradition from Zuhri [Sahih al-Bukhari, p. 96, 1375 AH print]:
“The Imamate of a mukhanath at a time of necessity is Sahih”.
Note: Arabic word “Mukhanath” means homosexual. This hadith has been removed from the English version of Bukhari, but exists in old copies of Arabic version. E.g. this 1375 Hijri print.
Related citation
1. Abdullah Ibn Umar deemed sodomy to Halaal: For evidence, please consult the following authentic Sunni texts: Tafseer Durre Manthur Volume 1 page 264 Ayat Hars, Tafseer Qasmi Volume 2 page 220, by Jamaladeen Qasmi , Tafseer Qurtubi page 92 Ayat Hars
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v6TOPu8U8g
3. http://www.sex-in-islam.com/amar.khan/anal-sex-islam-allah-prophet-muhammad.htm
4. http://www.answering-ansar.org/index.php

Hefajote Islam has resurrected again to claim Islamism . What are their demands? Their new demands is to replace lady justice from the courts in Bangladesh. If their demand is not fulfilled they have also threatened to replace the existing Bangladesh Government.

Interestingly, Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah itself has two figuriness i.e the camel’s and that of closed fist . Ironically the Islamist Hefajote Islam seem to have no issues with these being in place.

Bangladeshis are aware of the identity of poet Sheik Sadiq. There is a figurine of Sheik Sadiq infront of his burial place and interestingly no student of Madrasa have ever insisted on it being brought down!

Infact even the Islamist nation Iran has figurines of poet Omar Khayyam and Ferdausi and these have also never created a sensation or news. Even Tehran is testimony to several figurines around the city and no one protested against their presence. There has been no problems or ruckus regarding the figurines present in Syria’s National Museum as well.
Then why are the Islamist groups in Bangladesh creating a fuss out of this?
Attorney General Mahbub Alam has been quoted in an interview to BBC that, ‘that Lady Justice is not a figurine or an idol. It is a sculpture. Everything in that sculpture is a representation of elements of justice. The presence of the scale represents justice. The sword is a representation of punishment against crime and the blindfold is a symbolism of unbiased deliverance of justice. This same sculpture has remained the symbol of justice in various countries throughout the world”
The intentions of Hefajote Islam was clear when on 25 March, 2013 they demanded immediate release of Jamayat Islami’s leader Amir Dilwar Hossain. Had the Hefaojte Isklam truly been the Islamic saviours. They would have never supported the release of the leader of Jamayat Islam. A true Muslim can never come out in support of Jamayat Islam. The act committed by this group in the war of 1971, is no way acceptable as Islamic. So in coming out in support of this group reveals the truer intentions of Hefajote Islam.
However the power of Hefajote Islam has been on rapid rise, following no curb on its demands. The Hefajote Islam group has been duly responsible for implementing changes in the school curriculum. Today they have demanded the removal of justice. If their influences are not curbed, they would very soon demand the removal of all figurines from the country. Sooner they may also claim their unwillingness to led female leadership and development. The Hefajote Islam is on the mission of necessary rights of the citizens of Bangladesh.
The incident of the journalist Nadia Sharmin is still fresh in our memories, who was questioned for being a sole female reporter in the mass gathering of all men inclusive Hefajote Islam. Follwing this Nadia and members of Hefajote Islam had an altercation and she was badly beaten up and manhandled.
We still haven’t forgotten Hefajote Islam’s claims on banning the socialising up of male and females.We csn never forget the sacrifices made by 30 lakh bangladeshis to gain independence.However even after independence we are being threatened by Hefajote Islam.If the government does not curb the growing power of this group, they will soon overtake the government.

Couples who publicly kiss are jailed, yet the state turns a blind eye to 30,000 imported prostitutes, says William Butler

The bosomy blonde in a tight, low-cut evening dress slid on to a barstool next to me and began the chat: Where are you from? How long are you here? Where are you staying? I asked her what she did for a living. “You know what I do,” she replied. “I’m a whore.”

As I looked around the designer bar on the second floor of the glitzy five-star hotel, it was obvious that every woman in the place was a prostitute. And the men were all potential punters, or at least window-shoppers.

While we talked, Jenny, from Minsk in Belarus, offered me “everything, what you like, all night” for the equivalent of about £500. It was better if I was staying in the luxurious hotel where we were drinking, she said, but if not she knew another one, cheaper but “friendly”. I turned down the offer.

This was not Amsterdam’s red-light district or the Reeperbahn in Hamburg or a bar on Shanghai’s Bund. This was in the city centre of Dubai, the Gulf emirate where western women get a month in prison for a peck on the cheek; the Islamic city on Muhammad’s peninsula where the muezzin’s call rings out five times a day drawing believers to prayer; where public consumption of alcohol prompts immediate arrest; where adultery is an imprisonable offence; and where mall shoppers are advised against “overt displays of affection”, such as kissing.

Ayman Najafi and Charlotte Adams, the couple recently banged up in Al Awir desert prison for a brief public snog, must have been very unlucky indeed, because in reality Dubai is a heaving maelstrom of sexual activity that would make the hair stand up on even the most worldly westerner’s head. It is known by some residents as “Sodom-sur-Mer”.

Beach life, cafe society, glamorous lifestyles, fast cars and deep tans are all things associated with “romance” in the fog-chilled minds of Europeans and North Americans. And there is a fair amount of legitimate “romance” in Dubai. Western girls fall for handsome, flash Lebanese men; male visitors go for the dusky charms of women from virtually anywhere. Office and beach affairs are common.

But most of the “romance” in Dubai is paid-for sex, accepted by expatriates as the norm, and to which a blind eye is turned – at the very least – by the authorities. The bar where “Jenny” approached me was top-of-the-range, where expensively dressed and coiffured girls can demand top dollar from wealthy businessmen or tourists.

There are lots of these establishments. Virtually every five-star hotel has a bar where “working girls” are tolerated, even encouraged, to help pull in the punters with cash to blow. But it goes downhill from there. At sports and music bars, Fillipinas vie with the Russians and women from the former Soviet republics for custom at lower prices. In the older parts of the city, Deira and Bur Dubai, Chinese women undercut them all in the lobbies of three-star hotels or even on the streets (although outside soliciting is still rare).

It is impossible to estimate accurately the prostitute population of Dubai. The authorities would never give out such figures, and it would be hard to take into account the “casual” or “part-time” sex trade. One recent estimate put the figure at about 30,000 out of a population of about 1.5 million. A similar ratio in Britain would mean a city the size of Glasgow and Leeds combined entirely populated by

Of course, there are other cities in the world where the “oldest profession” is flourishing. But what makes Dubai prostitution different is the level of acceptance it has by the clients and, apparently, the city’s Islamic authorities. Although strictly illegal under United Arab Emirates’ and Islamic law, it is virtually a national pastime.

I have seen a six-inch-high stack of application forms in the offices of a visa agent, each piece of paper representing a hopeful “tourist” from Russia, Armenia or Uzbekistan. The passport-sized photographs are all of women in their 20s seeking one-month visas for a holiday in the emirate.

Maybe young Aida from Tashkent – oval-eyed and pouting – will find a few days’ paid work as a maid or shop assistant while she’s in Dubai, and maybe she will even get an afternoon or two on the beach as her holiday. But most nights she will be selling herself in the bars and hotels and the immigration authorities know that. So must the visa agent, who gets his cut out of each £300 visa fee.

The higher you go up the Emirati food chain, the bigger the awards. All UAE nationals are entitled to a number of residence visas, which they routinely use to hire imported domestics, drivers or gardeners. But they will sell the surplus to middlemen who trade them on to women who want to go full-time and permanent in the city. The higher the social and financial status of the Emirati, the more visas he has to “farm”.
Thousands of women buy entitlement to full-time residence, and lucrative employment, in this way. Three years in Dubai – the normal duration of a residence visa – can be the difference between lifelong destitution and survival in Yerevan, Omsk or Bishkek.

With a residence visa changing hands at upwards of £5,000 a time, it is a nice sideline, even for a wealthy national. And it also ensures a convenient supply of sex for Emiratis, who form a large proportion of the punters at the kind of bar where I met “Jenny”. Arabs from other countries are high up the “johns” list, with Saudis in particular looking for distraction from life in their austere Wahabist homes with booze and sex-fuelled weekends in Dubai’s hotels.

The other big category of punters is Europeans and Americans, and it is remarkable how quickly it all seems normal. A few drinks with the lads on a Thursday night, maybe a curry, some semi-intoxicated ribaldry, and then off to a bar where you know “that” kind of girl will be waiting. In the west, peer group morality might frown on such leisure activities, but in Dubai it’s as normal as watching the late-night movie.

Male residents whose families are also in Dubai might be a little constrained most of the year – you could not really introduce Ludmilla from Lvov, all cleavage and stilettos, as a work colleague with whom you wanted to “run over a few things on the laptop”. But in the long, hot summer it is different. Wives and families escape the heat by going to Europe or the US, and the change that comes over the male expat population is astounding. Middle-aged men in responsible jobs – accountants, marketeers, bankers – who for 10 months of the year are devoted husbands, transform in July and August into priapic stallions roaming the bars of Sheikh Zayed Road.

Tales are swapped over a few beers the next night, positions described, prices compared, nationalities ranked according to performance. It could be the Champions League we are discussing, not paid-for sex.

I’ve heard financial types justifying it as part of the process of globalisation, another manifestation of the west-east “tilt” by which world economic power is gravitating eastwards.
In my experience, many men will be unfaithful if they have the opportunity and a reasonable expectation that they will not be found out. For expats in Dubai, the summer months provide virtual laboratory conditions for infidelity.

Above all, there is opportunity. There is the Indonesian maid who makes it apparent that she has no objection to extending her duties, for a price; the central Asian shop assistant in one of the glittering malls who writes her mobile number on the back of your credit card receipt “in case you need anything else”; the Filipina manicurist at the hairdresser’s who suggests you might also want a pedicure in the private room.

Even though selling sex is haram (forbidden) under Islamic law, the authorities rarely do anything about it. Occasionally, an establishment will break some unwritten rule. Cyclone, a notorious whorehouse near the airport, was closed down a few years back, but then it really did go too far – a special area of the vast sex supermarket was dedicated to in-house oral sex. When the authorities ordered it to be closed, the girls simply moved elsewhere.

There are occasional stories in the local papers of human trafficking rings being broken up and the exploiters arrested, but it is low-level stuff, usually involving Asian or Chinese gangs and Indian or Nepalese girls. The real problem is the high-end business, with official sanction. Even with the emirate’s financial problems, Sodom-sur-Mer is flourishing. But would-be snoggers beware – your decadent behaviour will not be tolerated.

Campaigners say loophole introduced by new bill could see victims forced to marry Bangladesh has been accused of taking a “devastating step backwards” in the fight against child marriage by introducing a legal loophole that sets no age limit for wedlock.

The Child Marriage Restraint Bill keeps the legal age of marriage as 18 for women and 21 for men but introduces exceptions in “special cases” or for in the “best interests” of the adolescent.

Campaigners say the law effectively sets the marriageable age at zero but supporters of the law, which needs presidential approval before coming into effect, say courts will prevent abuse by assessing applications.

There are fears the orders could be used to force victims of sexual abuse or pregnant rape victims to marry their abusersThe Girls Not Brides group said no examples of “special cases” had been given that would make child marriage acceptable, saying other measures such as protecting education and providing economic opportunities for girls would better serve their futures.Campaigners said the changes to the law would effectively mean that Bangladesh has a “zero minimum age of marriage”.

“We are concerned that this new act could lead to widespread abuse, legitimise statutory rape, allow parents to force their girls to marry their rapists, and further encourage the practice of child marriage in a country with one of the highest child marriage rates in the world,” said a statement.

“The need to protect the ‘honour’ of girls who have become pregnant was widely cited by the Bangladesh government as the reason for this provision. However marriage is not the best way to protect adolescent girls and exposes them to greater harm.”

Campaigners called on the government to focus on tackling the root causes of child marriage in Bangladesh, as well as healthcare, sex education, contraception and childcare issues.

Most of us have been speculating about this day. Finally Bangladesh has been placed along side the likes of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The US government has now alerted a travel ban to Bangladesh⁠⁠⁠⁠.You may wonder why?⁠ The reason behind this is definitely the business minded Awami League spearheaded by Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina⁠. The recent terrorism and secularist killings in Bangladesh has brought the country under the radar for its notoriety and none other than Sheikh Hasina and her political advisors are to be blamed for this.Very soon Sheikh Hasina will find herself alone as she has not been able to take acceptable actions against the swelling extremism in the country⁠⁠⁠. No wonder Sheikh Hasina’s name will one day be acquainted with the Bangladeshi traitor Mir Zafar’s.

It is the extreme, sensational cases that make it to the front pages of the newspaper. We were all horrified when we heard of Nazish Noorani, a young mother killed by her abusive husband. What we don’t hear are the voices of the abused behind the closed doors of many homes across social, economic, ethnic, racial and gender lines. They exist in our community just as they exist in the non-Muslim communities. We see these men in our masjids, their wives suffering in silence at our picnics and our dinner parties.

One of the most recent cases the MWNUK dealt with that concerning a 17-year-old victim of forced marriage. Aisha* faced months of emotional and physical abuse by her parents before she was taken to Pakistan to wed her 30-year-old cousin, who she’d never even met.

“It started off with lectures about family honour, but then they started beating me with leather belts. They took away my phone, purse and Western clothes. I wasn’t allowed see my friends or go to the shop unaccompanied,” she explained.

By definition, domestic violence is a pattern of abuse – physical, sexual, financial, spiritual, emotional and verbal, including disparagement, blame, being ostracized, isolated and condemned. Domestic violence can be defined as a pattern of behavior in any relationship that is used to gain or maintain power and control over an intimate partner. Not one incident but a pattern. Men are victims too, 835,000 a year in the US alone, of physical, emotional and financial abuse.

Many cultures think it is the man’s God-given right to hit a woman. In abusive situations where women are the victims, the ones who do gather the courage to tell are told by their families to go back to their abusers for the sake of family, honor, name, children, to be patient and forgive her spouse after the abuse. Cultural narratives often define why many women do not seek help – i.e. thinking that your husband is Majazi Khuda, a metaphorical God – especially in the South Asian culture.With this premise in mind, how is the issue of domestic violence different for Muslims? Some Muslims believe that the teachings of Islam allow wife beating in certain With this thought in mind, how is the issue of domestic violence different for Muslims? Some Muslims believe that the teachings of Islam allow wife beating in certain circumstances

Why does this small group of Muslim men think they can beat their wives? The answer lies in one word: daraba. This word, or its derivatives, is used in the Quran in several places (Muslims believe the Quran is the divine word of God, revealed to Muhammad, a prophet, through the angel GabrielOne translation of Chapter 4, Verse 34 of the Quran states, in part, “And as for those women whose ill-willed rebellion you have reason to fear, admonish them first; then leave them alone in bed; then beat them; and if thereupon they pay you heed, do not seek to harm them.” (Muhammad Asad translation).

Sadly, it’s impossible to know just how many are suffering right now. Figures for violence against women in the Muslim community remain elusive.

Last year, the Home Office Forced Marriage Unit was informed of 1,302 cases. Of these, 15 per cent of victims were under 15, though figures peaked in the 16 to 17 age group, coinciding with the age that young women finish school. While the the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation found, under the Freedom of Information act, that more than 2,800 incidents of ‘honour’ based violence were reported to police across the UK in 2010.

Within four months of its report last year, MWNUK had received 35 case studies from different agencies – a surprising number from what is traditionally such a closed community and especially considering the intimidation victims often face from their abusers, in the name of ‘family honour’. It suggests that the real number is much higher.

Among them was a young woman, raped by 30 men, including a father and his schoolboy son, during a horrific six-hour attack. The common factor in each case? That cultural and religious issues were perpetuating the abuse and preventing victims from accessing help.The charity also found many women were struggling to reconcile their faith with their problems. They simply couldn’t find an alternative perspective to those patriarchal interpretations – which so often dominate religious discourse – that had been used against them.The Birmingham-based charity now consists of a network of nearly 700 individuals and organisations, and has become one of the leading campaigning voices for Muslim women in the UK.

With the launch of the first national helpline for Muslim women and girls helpline, voices of women such as Aisha and Shabana will no longer remain unheard. The charity hope that more will find the confidence to come forward and seek help.

Perhaps, finally, the veil of silence which has kept these problems hidden for so long, will finally be lifted.